Summarizing the summer
Even in the silly season you can learn a lot from what clicked, what stiffed, and what surprised
Unless you liked to watch the box office, summer 2009 was largely a season to forget. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’’ was the big winner, pulling in nearly $400 million domestically, so movies based on action figures aren’t going away any time soon. Judd Apatow’s winning streak came to a halt when he tried to get serious with “Funny People.’’ That old Hollywood saw “nobody knows anything’’ still holds. But there are lessons to take from which films succeeded, which didn’t, and which found audiences against the odds. Here’s what we learned after four months in the air-conditioned dark.
Never bet against
It’s a lesson that ought to have been learned last summer: That spring people had been scratching their heads over the box-office potential of an animated feature about a waste-disposal robot who works on a depopulated Earth. The film in question, “WALL-E,’’ turned out rather nicely, thank you very much. So this spring stock analysts were fearing for the price of Disney stock because the new feature by its subsidiary Pixar was about a 78-year-old man. Worse, it offered little potential for commercial tie-ins. The film in question, “Up,’’ has taken in nearly $300 million at the box office, a gross exceeded this year only by “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’’ and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.’’ Is it also worth mentioning it’s the best movie so far this year? MARK FEENEY
3-D is finally here to stay.
When “Up’’ debuted Memorial Day weekend, 51 percent of its grosses came from the 23 percent of theaters that were showing it in 3-D. One month later, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs’’ pulled the same trick. Part of the imbalance comes from the higher ticket prices charged for 3-D screenings - what, the glasses cost that much to make? - but after decades of flirting, audiences at last seem ready to commit. Next summer, get ready to duck. TY BURR
You can make a smart action movie.
Kathryn Bigelow did. It was called “The Hurt Locker,’’ and many viewers saw for themselves how great it is. Her thriller about an Army bomb squad in Iraq has grossed a fraction of what Michael Bay’s “Transformers’’ sequel did on its opening day, but it has more to say about the world than 10 toy-to-film mega-franchises. Then again, if you believe a friend of mine, “Transformers’’ is an allegory; the Autobots and Decepticons are the Sunnis and the Shiites, the Palestinians and the Israelis, the Jons and the Kates. See? Bay can make you think after all. WESLEY MORRIS
Sometimes a little mystery is a good thing.
At least when it comes to marketing summer comedies. “Brüno’’ gave away its best bits in trailers, on TV, and in Sacha Baron Cohen’s braying ubiquity. Then we got to see the movie and nothing else was there - certainly not comedy. Upshot: one good weekend, then toast. “The Hangover,’’ by contrast, profited by keeping us wondering what happened through the ad campaign and the movie itself, all the way to the end credits. T.B.
Christian Bale needs an attitude adjustment. This summer Bale tried to save mankind in the dreary “Terminator Salvation.’’ Then he tried to catch Johnny Depp’s Dillinger in “Public Enemies.’’ And on both occasions he was like the man who wasn’t there: doorknob cheekbones, diet lips, and zero soul. In the space of a decade Bale has become a puzzling negative movie star. He exudes hostility. It’s not that no one wants to see him. It’s that I, at least, need a break from the tantrums, scowling, and general testiness. Is it too much to ask that he put on a pair of jeans, flash a cocky smile, and pretend to enjoy being famous? It works for Bradley Cooper. W.M.
Agitdocs are coming of age.
Name something wrong with the world and you’ll find a documentary that really wants to get you riled up about it. The models for the genre are Michael Moore and Al Gore, but until this summer, few of the follow-ups have matched up. But with “Food, Inc.’’ at almost $4 million in grosses and steadily expanding, and with the high filmmaking quality of “The Cove’’ bringing fresh audiences into its dolphin horror story, there’s new hope that you can preach to the unconverted. T.B.
August is no longer a dumpster.
Once upon a time August was the month you went to the movies only because you failed to make better vacation plans. You might discover a sleeper like 1999’s “The Sixth Sense,’’ but usually it was grubby comedies and gnarly horror movies. This summer was a little different: “Julie & Julia,’’ “District 9,’’ “Inglourious Basterds,’’ “The Time Traveler’s Wife,’’ and “G.I. Joe’’ were all hits, even if, in the case of that last movie, it defies explanation. You might even see award campaigns for some of these films. If Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans don’t get an MTV Movie Award nomination for Best Heavily Armed Interracial Action Duo, I’ll eat my Cobra Commander mask. Go Joe! W.M.
Ladies, you (sort of) exist!
It’s not true that the studios forget in summer that women exist. They forget during the other three seasons, too. But this summer they gave us “Julie & Julia’’ with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and a mountain of minced onions. “The Time Traveler’s Wife’’ put Rachel McAdams back in her “Notebook’’ tears and took Eric Bana out of his skivvies. And the gimmicky “(500) Days of Summer’’ used a catchy ad campaign to entice
Stars don’t sell summer movies.
Fun does. Denzel Washington and John Travolta couldn’t get you to see “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.’’ Funnymen Will Ferrell, Eddie Murphy, and Jack Black all stiffed. Only Johnny Depp in “Public Enemies’’ seemed a sure thing - barely. Instead, audiences flocked to no-star specials that promised nothing more complicated than a good time, whether raucous (“The Hangover’’) or fantastic (“Up’’) or rich with pop nostalgia (“Star Trek’’) or proudly mindless (“Transformers’’). It’s been a cold, cruel world out there lately, and if only the movies can give us summer, we’ll take it. T.B. 
